Means for preventing daylight bank-robberies.



ai@ n W. W. ARNOLD. MEANS FOH PHEVENTING DAYLIGHTiBANK ROBBERIES. APPUCATION r'nfn JULY la. |915.

Itented Mal'. 5, 1918 v: h a v l l l 34a/UQ mio@ l y ryd.Mysihvention--relates `to improvements in .neans.-oimpreventing. daylight bank rob--v beies, .m obJcetbeing to provide a conj-y UNITED STATES OFFICE.

WALTER WATSON ARNOLD, 0F DAWSON, NEW MEXICO.

@Daylight:Bank-Bobbeiies;. and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainstomake and use the same, refer-- encegbeing had'to the accompanying drav'- iiigsmand to-:the .characters of reference marked ,thegeonywh-ich orin a part of this st nuetioeoi-Such .charactcrthat ae soon thiibarikr. licial is madca'ware of the presenceof-reafwouldbe robber, he may by a "simplv -niovcmento-the-foot or hand cause larmor@plates-,i of'steel or other suitable material, tofnnive intosposition whereby he will iemoniplot ineescd by bullet proof walls. s illustrated inthe drawing the side ll" or 'partitions of 'the cage occupied by 'tieia'i`,=i "a-ifostationary and made of metal'. These may have openings or not as may :I eidesired, .If they have openings or relatively all wii'idows through which papers may be passed from one cegeto another, provision .may be made for automatically closing these openings at the same time that the inovabie armor plate is actuated or caused to assume its protective position. As illustrated the movable armor plate is located in front only, however, it will be un derstood that side plates and even a rear plate may be voperatt-id in the same manner and on the same principle. In the drawing lI have shown no provision for closing the cage in therear. This, however, may be provi ed for if desired.I The principal idea. of the invention consists in a construction whereby protecting plates or partitions, may automatically move into position and afford complete -protection to the official against the'v Would-be burglar, these protecting plates or members being normally held inactive and in. concealment but are so connected that they may be released at any moment, in which event they will be quickly moved into a Aprotecting position, through the instrumentality of a weight or spring or any other suitable motive power.

Specification of Letters Patent.

MEANS FOR PREVENTING DAYLIGHT BANK-ROBBERIES.

Patented Mar. 5, 191

Application filed July 13, 1915. Serial No. 39,711.

Having briefly outlined my present iin proif'enicnt as Well as the function it is .intended to perform I will proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which is illustrated an `cmbodin'ient thereof. In this drawing- Figure 1 is a verticall section taken through a cage of a bank equipped with my improvement.

Fig. 2 is a section similar to F ig. l, but showing the automatically adjustable armor plate raised to the protecting position.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectionv taken on the line 3f-3 Fig. 2 looking downwardly.

Iiteferring to the drawing, the numeral designates the deelt of the bank officie! as paying teller, and 6 the opening or window in front of the desk and in front of which he customer' stands. In this connection it is assumed that the side walls 7 at'the opposite ends of the desk or on. the opposite' sides of the telle'iwhen standing at the desk,`

are composed of stationary steel plates provided with openings 9 communicating with the cages on opposite sides. "lhe cage is normally provided with the ordinary 'screen or vertically disposed bars 10 in front and to say the part of the cage above the desk of i the teller, is normally concealed within the casing below thetop of the desk and in the rear of the stationary casin member 13. With the lower .extremity o this late 'is connected as shown ait-14:, a cable, 1 Iwhich passes over a pulley 16 just below the'top of the desk and thence downwardly underneath a second pulley `17 and thence upwardly, where it is secured to a suitable' stationary member 18 which is attached to theidesk 5 underneath. Securedto the pulley 17 is a depending rod 19 to which. a sectional Weight 2O is applied. As ms'lny sections or members may be placed upon the rod as desired, these sections being perforated to receive the rod, a out 21 being employed as a support to hold them in place. The rod 'of course maybe made of any desired length.

When the device is not in use, a trigger 22 passes through one of .a pair of vertical i. steel plate upwurd] tion nl. the weight. This trigger is connected willi :in arm i-L of a bell crank level' Q5, the other arm of' the lever being oonnecled as Shown at 26 with a rod or Cable 27 whose n(pposite extremity is connected as shown a with a foot lever 29 which is ful erumed. at B0 and equipped at itsl outer (ixtremity with a foot plate 31.

Each of the side openings J of the walls 7 of the auge are adapted to be closed. by a. steel member 32 which is pivoted above the opening as shown at 33 and provided with a rigid :irm 34. one extremityr of which protrudes as shown at 35 into the path of the plate 12 as the lutter moves upwardly, whereby the closure 32 will then be thrown int-o the position shown in Fig. 2, since the platey 12 as it moves upwardly, will act upon the arm il to produce this result. The pivotal join t between the plates 2L- and the walls 7 is sufficiently tiglit to retain the said plates in the raised position, but at the same time will permit the plates to be moved when desred.

From the foregoing explanation, it will be understood that in the event that a robber attempts to hold up the teller, as the latter throws up his hands, one of Vhis :feetv ma lpress upon the plate 3l of the lever 29, su

ciently to release the wei ht 20 which will instantly move downward y, and-shoot the to the dotted line position in Fig. 1 an into the 'full line position in Fig. Q. At the same time, the closures a will be moved to close the openings 9 in the sides of the cage, thus completely shutting in the teller in front and at both sides.

The upper extremity of the pocket or cavity in. which the plate 12 is located is nor mall closed by a pivoted cover 36 which over aps a narrow ledge 37 at the outer edge of the desk 5. Of course, as the armor plate moves upwardly it will raise the cover 36. Attention is also called to the fact that the trigger Q2, together with the bell crunk lever 25 is normally held in the weightsupporting position by a leaf spring 3.8. As thelever 25 is actuated thi.r .pring yields to allow the trigger to move outwardly far enough to release the weight.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is,

An apparatus ofthe class described including a, stationary frame work, a pleteniovubly mounted in said frame world a eable having one extremity connected with the lower part of seid pluto and its opposite extremity with u stationary support, :l pulley which the said cable engages intermediate its extremities, a rod suspended from the pulley, a weight supported by the said rod, :t guide-way for the said weight, a` bell crank fulcrumed exteriorly on the guide may', one arm of whichl is provided with a projection adapted to e'nter a )erforation in said guide-Way and engage t e weight for holding the latter in the 'raised position, and means connected with the other arm of the bell crank lever for withdrawing thel said projection and releasing the weight when desired.v

In testimony' whereof I aiix my signature in presence ofV two witnesses.

WALTER WATSON ARNOLD. Witnesses:

Bnss- Mrrcmsu., A. J. OBnum. 

